


Darkness from Above

by sueKay04



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adult Themes, Canon-Compliant, Character Study, Child Abuse, Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Corporal Punishment, Gen, Why Levi is a cleanfreak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29121276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sueKay04/pseuds/sueKay04
Summary: A look at Levi's childhood in the underground.
Kudos: 4





	1. 3

**Author's Note:**

> This is currently a one-shot, though I may expand it if there's enough interest, and the title may change. The title comes from Pompeii by Bastille. Levi’s aged 3 in this.

Fussing. It was what she was always doing.

Washboard. Mangle. Dry. Fold. Sweep. Mop. Dust. Scour. Smile.

This was Mama’s ritual, almost always carried out with a taut smile and words of calm serenity.

Levi would always try to help, but she would never let him.

“Mama’s just fussing angel, please let me fuss,” She’d smile, before continuing scrubbing the bare floor of the room they called home.

When the lamps in the halls were fully lit, Levi would venture out, explaining to their neighbours that mama was ‘fussing’. The other kids who lived in the inn said their mothers fussed as well, but the ladies without kids tended to roll their eyes and scoff at the children.

“Sure, “fussing”, that’s what it is,” one woman, Alma, said.

Alma was one of the younger women who lived in the same inn as Levi. In fact the inn was almost always full of women, some with their children. During High Lamp a lot of the women stayed in their rooms and some left to go to work, leaving the halls for the kids to play in.

During Low Lamp, it was different and the inn became very noisy when all the womens’ friends and boyfriends came to visit. At Low Lamp Levi and the other children were instructed to play outside. Some of the older kids grew worrisome and upset at Low Lamp, wanting to see their mothers, but Levi didn’t.

After all, this was the way it was – High Lamp was home time and fussing, Low Lamp was playtime. But Levi always knew Mama preferred High Lamp.

“Why is High Lamp always when it’s bright up there?” one of the kids, Missy, asked loudly one day pointing at the ceiling of the Underground.

Levi didn’t really know himself, so he listened in as one of the oldest kids began talking.

“The bright bit’s on the surface. When it’s light and bright up there we try and make it light and bright down here by putting the lamps on high. When it’s dark up there, we make the lamps burn low,” Wolfgang explained.

“Surface?” Levi mumbled. He’d heard the word before but what even was it?

At Low Lamp, on the call from Boss, the owner of the inn, the kids would venture back inside.

Mama was already fussing, stripping the sheets from the bed.

“Can I help?” he asked.

“No sweetheart it’s fine. I need to take these to the washhouse if you want to walk with me though.”

At a rare, genuine smile from Mama, Levi nodded in agreement and grabbed the wash bucket Mama kept in the cupboard.

The washhouse was a short distance from the inn and it was Levi’s favourite place. It smelled all soapy and clean and he and Mama would sometimes make funny hairstyles out of the bubbles. Levi loved watching people fuss. Mama and her friends’ stuff was always pretty clean, but other people who lived in other buildings would have really dirty sheets and clothes, and it was like magic! The sheets would be all horrible and stained, and in no time at all they’d be shiny and bright, just like what the Surface must look like, Levi thought.

That reminded him – he had to ask Mama about the surface.

“Who was talking about the surface?” She asked after his initial question.

“Wolfgang was.”

“Ah...Gert’s son. Well the Surface is what’s above the ceiling. Up there, during High Lamp, it’s bright white like fresh sheets, but at Low Lamp it’s even darker than down here.

“Wow!” it sounded amazing, “Bright white like sheets? Can we go there? I want to see!”

Mama’s earlier smile vanished, and she furrowed her brow for a moment, “maybe one day angel.”


	2. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snapshot of Levi's life, aged 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was in two mind about expanding this as I knew it would be difficult to write anything about Levi's childhood, but I've decided to keep going. Obviously this story might touch on sensitive topics going forward, because poor Levi had one heck of a tough start in life.

As Levi grew older, he continued to love fussing, or cleaning as his mother now told him to call it – fussing was different. Fussing was something Mama did when she wanted to keep her mind busy.

Levi always marveled at soap, but the king of cleaners was bleach – nothing could clean like bleach, but it was so difficult to get it in the Underground.

He imagined the Surface was so bright because they had plenty of bleach up there.

But, sat at the washhouse with Mama and her friends, Levi sadly had to concede that not even bleach could remove all the stains he wished it would.

Mama’s arms were covered in ‘stains’ again – bruises.

When he was really little he’d just thought maybe Mama was clumsy when she was fussing, but now he was older he knew there was another reason her arms were always marked.

He also understood why the older kids didn’t want to leave their mothers to go out and play.

One day Wolfgang came out to play, but when Low Lamp ended he had no home to go to – his mother Gert was gone.

Levi remembered the older boy sat in the corridor of the inn, his knees hugged to his chest as he rocked back and forth, dried tear trails on his cheeks. Mama and the other women were keeping everyone away from Wolfgang and Gert’s room, telling the kids they needed to fuss for a while.

But Levi saw the tears in his mother’s eyes, and noticed that all the cleaning rags were turning crimson.

Another woman at the inn took Wolfgang in, but he soon ran off, and Levi never saw him again.

After Gert and Wolfgang went away, Levi never wanted to leave his mother in case anything bad happened, and he started to get in trouble with the Boss for sneaking back in during Low Lamp.

On one of his infiltration attempts he got pretty far into the building, only the building didn’t feel like home in this light. He could hear moaning and shouting and screaming from some rooms, and crying from a couple of others. There were men there too, speaking to Boss at the counter, and they didn’t look nice. In fact they were very scary.

As he saw a man leave his and Mama’s room, fixing his britches as he went, Levi hid near the counter to try and sneak along and check on Mama, but Boss caught him and gave him a bloody nose.

His nose was sore, but wanting rid of the blood Levi went to the washhouse to get some soap. His nose stung as he washed his face, but as soon as he finished, his nose started bleeding again. He asked one of the woman at the washhouse if she had bleach he could use to clean his nose. The woman looked horrified and explained to him why that wasn’t a good idea before getting him an old handkerchief to hold at his nose.

Mama appeared a little bit later, looking angry and upset. She grabbed Levi and struck him across the face with her palm, the force of the blow knocking him to the ground.

Mama had never hit him before.

Was sneaking into the inn at Low Lamp really so bad? Wouldn’t it be better if the kids could keep the mothers safe from the bad men?

Levi picked himself up to look at Mama.

She was crying.

She never cried.

And her face was all stained with bruises.

“Boss said if you sneak in again when you’re supposed to be playing we’ll need to find another place to stay! Don’t you _ever_ break the rules ever again! Boss was really angry with us today.”

“But Mama, those men in the – “

“I don’t care what you think about the men at the inn Levi, unfortunately I need them. We need them. Or else we’d go hungry!”

“But Mama-“

“But nothing, Levi! We need money and those men pay me money.”

Mama softened a little, but wasn’t done giving him a telling-off, “And don’t walk to the washhouse without me. I know it’s your favourite place, but it isn’t safe to walk through the streets.”

“I could take on anyone who tried anything,” Levi blurted out, his confidence bubbling up from out of nowhere.

Finally Mama smiled and let out a gentle chuckle, “Angel, you are size nuthin, but I’m sure you’d try your best…You were trying to look out for me today weren’t you? You were worried.”

Levi relunctantly nodded.

“Well don’t worry, Mama’s got guts a-plenty to look after us both. Please don’t worry.”


End file.
